Latch for doors.



H. 0. WILSON.

LATCH FOR ooons. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 3. 1912.

1,247,052. Patented N0v. 20,1917.

4 SHEETS-SHEET z.

o I I H. D. WILSON.

LATCH FOR DOORS.

APPLICATION FILED,SEPT,.3. 1912.

Patent/ad Nov. 20, 1917.

Patented Nov. 20, 1917.

4 SNEETs-SHEET 4- TTNTTETD STATES PATENT Q FFTQE.

HARRISON 1). WILSON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO MoFARLAND-HYDE COM- PANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

LATCH FOR DOORS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 20, 1917.

Application filed September 3, 1912. Serial No. 718,224. I

1 '0 all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HARRISON D. Wilson, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Latches for Doors, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

This invention relates to improvements in latches for doors, particularly fire proof doors, in which latter-among other things it is required that when a door is open the latch-bolt shall be held out of its operative position by a gravity catch automatically released by the closing of the door, which latch-bolts shall operate by gravity to automatically lock a single door or a pair of doors the instant they are closed.

The prime object of this invention is a latch for doors comprising a plurality of latch-bolts so constructed, pivoted and connected by a single bar that the entire and combined weight or gravity of the several latch-bolts and their connecting bar is utilized as far as possible for automatically moving the latch-bolts simultaneously to their locking position either in a door amb, or an adjacent door when doors are used in pairs.

A further object of this invention is to provide means integral with one of the latch-bolts whereby it is impossible for any of them on closing the door to become jammed against either the door jamb or the adjacent door of a pair of doors.

A further object of my invention is to simultaneously maintain all of the latchbolts of a door however many there may be, in their unlocked position by means of a gravity catch adapted to be connected with and actuated by the door jamb for releasing the latch-bolts from their unlocked position the instant the door is moved to a closed position.

Another object of my invention is a latch construction fora pair of doors in both of which the latches operate by gravity, are held out of their locked position by a gravity catch automatically released on the closing of the door, the latch mechanism being so connected as to compel the unlocking of the door lastclosed before the door first closed can by any possibility be unlocked.

With these ends in view, my invention finds embodiment in certain features of novelty in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts by which the said objects and certain other objects are hereinafter attained, all as fully described with reference to the accompanying drawings, and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In said drawings:

Figure 1 illustrates in front elevation a pair of doors in which my invention finds embodiment, with parts broken away to expose the latch mechanism therefor.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail of a little more than one-half of the upper locking mechanism for said doors.

Fig. 3 is a detail on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail in front elevation of the means by which one of the doors is prevented from closing in advance of the other.

Fig. 5 is a detail side elevation of the same. l p i Fig. 6 is a detail sectional view showing the connection between the gravity catches and the door jamb by which the catches are actuated to release the latch-bolts on the closing of the door.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail perspective view of one of the latch-bolts, and

Fig. 8 is an elevation showing a modification of the lock bolts, and means for locking the same illustrated in Fig. 2.

Similar characters of reference indicate the same parts in the several figures of the drawings.

The drawings illustrate a pair of doors 8 and 9, both of which are shown to be of hollow metal, but may be filled metal doors, and so far as my invention is concerned may be ordinary wood doors provided with suitable recesses indicated by the hollow door structure, for inclosing the latch mechanism hereinafter described, and respectivelyhung upon suitable hinges 8 and 9 V For the purposes of the latch mechanism of the left hand or door 8, the top sill 10 and the bottom sill 11 of the door frame are respectively provided with notches or keep ers l2 and 13 for the latch-bolt oi that door, which primarily consists of a bar 14, to the upper end oi which by means of a pivot 15 is mounted a hook shaped latch 16 pivoted at 17 to the door, guide plates 18 and 19 forming bearings for the bar toward both its upper and lower ends.

Normally the lach-bolt ot the door 0 when released from its retaining device hereinafter described, automatically moves by gravity to a locked position, that is to say, the bar 1-4; drops into the keeper 13 and in doing so swings the hook shaped latch on pivot 17 to engagement with its keeper 16. j I

The latch bar let is elevated above its locked position, and the latch 16 lowered below its locked position by means of a block 20 secured to the latch bar by rive s or bolts 21-21 actuated by a cam secured (see Fig. 3) to the knob shank 23 or" a knob 24, the cam 22 Forming; a seat for the block 20, as shown in Fig. 1, for purposes hereinafter described, when the lock bolt is in its operative position.

In order to positively maintain the latch bar away from its locked position, and at the same time have it automatically lock on the closing of the door 8, a gravity catch 25 provided with a lip 26 adapted to form a seat for a lug 2'7 secured by a rivet 28 to the latch bar is pivoted at 29 below its upper end 30, which point is secured by a pivot 81 to a casting 32 in which is adj ustably secured a rod 33, the free end o'twhich projects through the hinged edge of the door and such distance beyond the edge of the door that on closing it the end of the rod 83 will strike the side B l of the door frame or jamb with the result that the rod 33 will be pushed inwardly sufi'icient to disengage the gravity'catch from the lug 27, and thereby automatically release the locking bolt from the gravity catch, which bolt will then by gravity alone move to its locked position.

To promote a quick action oi": the gravity catch there may be secured thereto or cast therewith at its lower rear side an additional weight 35.

In Fig. 1 the lockingbolt is locked position and in l 2 its unlocked position, that is to say in the latter figure the lock bolt is shown in the position it has when the cam has moved to very nearly the limit of its movement for lifting and unlocking the bar with the gravity catch ready to receive on its shoulder 26 the lug 27 of the bar on releasing from the hand the knob by which the lock bolt is unlocked,

Door 9 is'pro ',-.ed with a locking mechanism adapted to lock it to the door 8 instead of to the upper and lower top bar of shown in its the door jamb as is the door 8, and to this end is provided with a single piece shift bar 36 to which are pivoted at their apices a number of triangular shaped lock bolts 87, 38

and 39 by means of pivots 4L0, the lock bolt H 38 being also provided with a prong 41, the free end of which is provided with a bevel e2, and each lock bolt is secured at its upper end to the door by pivots 43%3.

Shift bar 36 is actuated by cam 4% on the knob shank 45 of a knob s6 indicated by dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 2, which cam lies flat against the shift bar (see Fig. 1) when the door 9 is locked to the door 8 and in which position it shouldbe observed that the lower arm of the lock bolt 38 projects across the block 20 ofthe door 8, which is then seated on the cam 22thereby preventing the door 8 from being opened until the door 9 is unlocked. I

The bevel on the prong 41 by its engagement with the edge oi the door 8 operates to push the lock bolt 38 inwardly away from the door 8 thereby. preventing the jamming of the door 8 against any of the several lock bolts of the door 9.

In practice the door 9 (see Fig. 1) is preterably faced with a narrow plate 47 against which the shift bar 36 has a bearing and for strengthening purposes the lock bolts 37, 3S and 39 are preferably respectively pivoted to smaller plates e8 secured to the plate t7 by rivets or other means, which plates serve to project the lock bolts trom the faceot the door to a plane in the path of their keepers, tormedas they are by the opposing walls or" the hollowed outdoor 8.

As a means for positively guiding the shift bar in its movement when actuated by the cam 44, a plate :9 forming one of the bearings for the knob shank is projected over the shift bar, which at its upper end has its bearing in a guide bar 50.

It will now be seen that the form of the several triangular lock bolts pivoted as they are at their upper end to the door and to the shift bar is such that the several lock bolts move to a locking position by their own gravity augmented by that of the entire weight ofthe shit-t bar, and that as soon as the shift bar is released from the end of the cam on the knob shank (see Fig. 2) thereby positively force the lock bolts 37,38 and 39 away from their locking position, the gravity oi. the lock bolts and the shift bar then automatically move them to their locked position shown in Fig. 1.

Shift bar 36 of door 9, like the locking bar 1 of door 8, is provided with a gravity catch 51 provided with a seat 5 2v adapted to engage a lug- 53 secured to the shift bar 36, a gravity catch being pivoted at 54 below its upper end to whi ch'end inturn is pivtited a casting 5,5 inwhich is screw-threaded at 56, and therefore adjustable, a rod 57 which like the rod 33 projects through the edge of the door, and by its engagement with the jamb on the closing of the door automatically moves the gravity catch out of engagement with the lug 58 of the shaft bar.

As a simple and effective means for preventing the closing of the door 9 before the closing and locking of the door 8, there is pivoted in suitable lugs 5858 secured to the jamb and next above both doors a rod 59, one end 60 of which is bent in a straight line and bifurcated to form bearings for a roller 61, the other end 62 being bent on a curved line'at right angles thereto and terminating in a point 63 rising in a plane above the arm 60 and the roller 61, the roller 61 being in the path of the door 9 and the curved arm in the path of the door 8.

From this construction it will now be seen that if an eflort is made to close the door 9 in advance of the door 8 the former will jam against the roller 61 and vent the door from closing, and that if while in this partly closed position the door 8 be moved to a closed position it will engage the underside of the curved arm 62 and lifting it upwardly will at the same time carry the roller with it above the top of the door 9, but not until the door 8 has partly passed the door 9 in its closing movement.

In Fig. 8 there is illustrated a modification of the lock bolts shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and the means for locking the same, in which is employed a lockbolt 64 of a generally T-shaped form, the stem 65 of which T terminates in a bell crank 66 fulcrumed on a pivot 67 to the door 8 with the arm 66 in turn secured to the latch bar 14 by a pivot 68.

The inwardly projecting arm 69 of this T-lock bolt serves as a weight to swing the outwardly projecting arm 70 through registering slots 71 and 72 respectively in the doors 8 and 9, the end ofthe arm 70 being beveled as .indicated at 73 to facilitate its locking engagement with the two opposing doors.

There are two of these lock bolts, one of which is adjacent a lock mechanism 74, the bolt 75 of which may be operated by a knob or a key from the inside of the door when closed, and thereby lock the latch bolts in their operative position, and to which end the inwardly projectin arm 69 of the lock bolt is somewhat eXten ed as compared with the others so that when in a position locking the two doors together the lock-bolt 75 when projected from the lock structure will stand in the path across that in the end of the arm 69, and thereby prevent the lockbolt 64 from being unlocked until the latchbolt is withdrawn from the path of movement of the arm 69.

In operation when the lock bar 14: falls by gravity to its operative locking position as it can only do when both doors are closed,

pre-.

as before described, the latch-bolts 64 fulcrumed on the door by the pivot 67 are so actuated as to force them outwardly to their in a sin le door to the casin b havin slots in the latter register as do the slots in the adjacent door 9.

From the foregoing it will now be evident that by my invention provision is made for automatically locking by gravity at the top and bottom one of a pairof doors and likewise automatically by gravity locking the other door thereto; that in both instances their latch bolts are held out of their operative position by gravity operatingcatches automatically released when the doors are closed; that after both doors are locked closed the predetermined last door closed must be unlocked before it is possible to unlock the otherdoor; that it is impossible to close the door to be locked to the other door before the other door is first closed and locked; and that when both doors are locked closed neither can be accidentally unlocked nor without first forcibly turning the knobs of one of them.

While this invention finds embodiment in a pair of doors it should now be observed that it also essentially and substantially finds embodiment in a single door when thereis applied thereto the locking devices shown applied to the door 9 when it is obvious that they will cooperate with suitable keepers in a door j amb and so far as the operation of these devices are concerned, cooperate equally as well with a door jamb provided with suitable recesses for receiving the angular locking bolts as does the recess formed by the hollow door 8.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1s:

1. A latch for doors comprising in combination a latch bolt, a pivot directly connecting said latch bolt with a door, an integral bar pivoted directly to and suspended from said latch bolt at a point substantially re moved from the ends of said bar whereby the gravity of the bar is utilized to actuate the latch bolt to a locked position.

2. A. latch for doors comprising in combination a plurality of latch bolts, an integral bar, a pivot therefor mounted upon a door, directly connecting said latch bolts and bodily suspending the bar, whereby the gravity of a latch connecting bar is utilized for actuating said bolts automatically toa locked position, and means for moving said bolts.

to an unlocked position, substantially as described.

3. A latch ior doors comprising in combination a plurality of. latch bolts, an integral bar, a pivot connecting said latch bolts and bar and suspending the latter and on which pivot s: d bar has a fixer fulcrum, whereby the g z-"ity of a latch bar is utilized for actuating said bolts automatically to a locked position, means for moving said bolts to an itlnlocked position, and a gravity catch maintaining said bolts in an unlocked position, substantially as described.

4. A latch for doo comprising'in combination plurality of latch bolts, each oi which is pivotally connected with and suspended "from the door, a bar directly pivoted to each and suspended on a fixed fulcrum from said latch bolts, whereby the gravity of every latch bolt and the bar is used to automatically move the latch bolts to a locking position, substantially as described.

'or a pair of doors 5. A latch mechanism 1 comprising a. latch bolt pivoted at a point between the extremity of its length to one door, a bar pivoted at its upper end to and suspended fr in said latch bolt and terminating at its opposite end in a locking bolt, a block secured to said bar, means engaging said block for lifting the latch bar and latch bolts to an unlocking position in combination with a plurality of latches pivoted to the other door, one of which engages the block, a shift bar, pivot suspending said bar her the latch bolt, whereby the locking bolts on both doors and their bar connections simultaneously operate by gravity to move the lock bolts to their locking position, substantially as described.

6. A latch mechanism for a pair of doors comprising a latch bolt pivoted to one door, a bar pivoted at its upper end to and suspended by said latch bolt and terminating at its opposite end in a locking bolt, a block secured to said bar, means for engaging said block for lifting the latch bar and the latches to an unlocked position in combination with a plurality of latches pivoted to the other door, shift bar pivotally suspending said bar from the latch bolt, whereby the locking bolt on both doors and their bar connections operate by gravity to lock the bolts, and means upon one of said locking bolts adapted to engage with the block upon the opposing suspended bar of the other door and thereby preventi the unlocking of one door until theo ther door is unlocked, substantially as described.

7. A latch mechanism for a pair of doors comprising-in combination a latch bolt pivoted to one door, a bar pivoted at its upper end to and suspended by saidlatch bolt and terminating at its other end in a locking bolt, a block secured to said bar, means'engaging saidblock for lifting the latch bar vertically and swinging thelatch bolt upon its pivot to an unlocked'position in combination with a plurality of latches pivoted to the other door, one of which engages the block, a shift bar pivotally suspending said bar from the latch bolt, means for moving said shift bar laterally for unlocking from the opposing door the locking bolts pivoted to said bar, substantially as and for the purpose described.

8. A latch mechanism for a pair of doors comprising in combination a longitudinally movable bar terminating at its lower end in a latch bolt, a swinging latch bolt pivoted to the upper end of said bar, a block for en 'aging'said latch bolt, and means for re ciprocating said bar in combination with a plurality of latches pivotally supported by the other door, a laterally moving shift bar, a pivot suspending said bar from the latch bolts, and means upon one of said latch bolts adapted to engage with the block upon the opposing suspending bar of the other door, whereby the bars connecting the latch bolts upon both doors by their gravity actuate the latches to a locked position, and the locking mechanism of one door cannot be unlocked until the other door is first unlocked therefrom, substantially as described.

9. A latch for doors comprisin in combination a latch bolt, a pivot connection between said latch bolt and a door, a laterally movable integral bar pivoted to and supported from said latch bolt, and a bevel prong upon said latch bolt, whereby said latch bolt is prevented jamming with the face of the opposing door, substantially as described.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal, this 28th day of August, A. D. 1912.

HARRISON l). l JILSON. [Ls] Witnesses Jno. G. ELLIOTT, MILDRED Ensnnu.

Genie-s of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the fiommissloner of Patents. Washington, D. G, 

